Singapore

It is week after the best wedding I have ever been to and we are on the road again. It feels odd to be travelling again, but good odd. We said all the goodbyes and had no troubles at the airport at all, a rare occurrence and so hopped on the plane. It was one of the best flights I have had in a long time, probably since I had 4 seats to myself from Seoul to London. The new Singapore Airlines A330 is sensational with excellent in flight entertainment on-demand on a large screen, great food and good service, and yes I do realise I sound like a commercial right now. We went through immigration in about 4 minutes, customs in 2, headed down to the Singapore subway known as the MRT (more on this later) and were in the city in 20 minutes. We checked into the hotel and went straight away to one of the local hawkers for dinner. Or so we thought. The one we were heading to, which happens to be across the road from the hotel and one which we found last time we were here, is no longer there, replaced by a very large hole in the ground. Oh, well, progress, no doubt a new parking lot coming. So we wandered the adjacent streets, walking through some of the arcade type markets between buildings and came across a new food hall. These food halls are becoming more common in Singapore and this one had opened only a week before, and it turns out the hawkers we intended to eat at relocated here. It is sometimes hard to find food for Tanya in Asia since she is allergic to seafood and can’t handle chilli, but we managed to get some good food for her, and I tried something I can’t even pronounce let alone have tried before, finished it off with some freshly juice fruit and then stopped to think, breakfast in Adelaide airport, dinner in Singapore. Life can be surreal sometimes. We arrived back at the hotel pretty tired, turned the TV on to see Essendon thrashing St Kilda. Sometimes life is good.
Day 2 started very well, waking up not to an alarm. Any day you don’t have to wake up to an alarm is a good one, and I am definitely looking forward to no alarms for the next year. A short walk down the road for some early morning dumplings, another good way to start the day, which was starting to warm up by now. We took a walk along the river and being a Saturday almost got bowled over by a few over enthusiastic joggers. We ended up at the icon of Singapore, the Merlion. But we were not alone. There were a few schools groups and a few more than a few tourists at the purpose built landing to look at water shooting out of the mouth of a Lions head with the tail of a fish. I am not really a fan of what I call the “look at me, I really was here and I can prove it because I am in a photo with it” photo, but apparently it Is quite popular here. Pictures done, we headed to the seven story shopping mall entirely dedicated to electronic goods at bargain prices, but you need to bring your bargaining skills along. We needed a new laptop but were a little bewildered at the sheer number of choices available. After checking out the place we got a fair idea about what we wanted but I remembered a shopping mall out in the suburbs that had a few electronic shops so it was back on the MRT, or as I like to call it the Homer Train since it has SMRT on the front of it. “I am so smart, I am so smart, S.M.R.T, I mean S.M.A.R.T”. Anyway, the suburban shopping mall did not have anything cheaper so we ended up getting a brand new laptop from the city, from which I am writing now. So far, so good. After a long day walking we wanted to go back to the hotel, or more specifically the hotel pool. It was a little bit good, both cool and wet which is really what you are after in your pools I think. So we come up to date, as I am writing this the sun is starting to come down and is shining off the gold domes of the mosque that I can see across the road from out of the hotel window. They look like golden turnips and the city is bathed in amber. Tomorrow the plan is to not wake up to an alarm, eat very good, very cheap food and sit by the pool. Sometimes life is good.